In the process of buying a new house. Should be finished being built in Jan 07. I have until then to decide on what to do for a garage floor coating. Would like to save some money and get a do-it-yourself kit. I want to do this before I move in. Anyone have any experiance with this. Dont know the exact size, but its a typical 2 car garage. Looking to spend around $500
Garage floor coatings
- Thread starter Way2QWK
- Start date
Did mine in the do it yourself epoxy kit from Lowes. Roughly $150 bucks for two kits, a paint pan and long handled roller. My home was built in 1975 and the concrete had years of oils and trans fluids on it making the prep work tough. There are some places the coating is not sticking like it should because I probably still didn't prep throughly enough. Advice: follow directions to a tee. I still really like it better than before..looks great. I got the light tan color with the multi colored flecks that you sprinkle in while still wet. HTH.
You should be able to complete a 2 car garage with the u coat is system for 500, it's a 3 part system much better than what you can get from Lowes or Home Depot. If you are going to do it make sure you keep any oil off the surface, it will save you time during surface prep. I just completed my 3 car 24x30 for $750.
www.ucoatit.com
248 545 4055
www.ucoatit.com
248 545 4055
The Blob
Amorphous... totally
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
Go to http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=20
and read all about garage flooring options. There's tons of good info there.
After reading through pages and pages and pages of posts, I decided on the epoxy-coat. I put it down last weekend and am quite pleased.
and read all about garage flooring options. There's tons of good info there.
After reading through pages and pages and pages of posts, I decided on the epoxy-coat. I put it down last weekend and am quite pleased.
Paul, you ought to see mine now. It's coming up every where, those kits from lowes are CRAP!! My floor had never seen a set of tires, let along oil. I called & gave them an ear full about 3 months ago. The lame excuse I got when I called was my cement was degrading, yea right, the house was buit in 95. They told me they would have a rep out within a week to take a look, I'm still waiting.
I think I was more than anal when preping mine but that's just me. Everyone that reads DO NOT BUY the craping kits from lowes.If I were you I'd go to UCoat It America - Garage and Concrete Floor Coatings
You'll be extremely happy with the finished product and I think you'll be about right on budget. The U Coat It system is hands down the best looking epoxy floor coating I have seen. I will be using it in my detatched garage.
I used the Rustoleum stuff from Home Depot almost 3 years ago on my main garage and it is holding up great, however it's not half as nice looking as U Coat It. Of course I coated a 24 X 30 garage for $200 including supplies. I was very particular about the preperation process and I believe that is why the cheap stuff is still sticking. Here's what I did:
Since this is a new house, DO NOT park your leaky car in the garage and stain the floor.
Buy a stiff bristled brush that you can mount to a handle, buy a handle mounted squeegie, a gallon of Muriatic acid, a big bag of Baking Soda, and a metal pail with a sprinkler spout like for watering plants.
Sweep the floor.
Hose the floor down good. Remove all loose debris.
Squeegie the floor to get it pretty dry.
Use a respirator if possible and pour the acid into the sprinkler pail.
Use the pail to spread the acid over the entire floor.
Spread it around with the brush.
Wait 10 minutes and rinse it down.
Spread baking soda over the floor to get the ph level back to normal.
Use the brush to spread it good.
Rinse the floor and squeegie to dry and repeat a second time to make sure you get the floor good and clean.
Let it dry overnight and start spreading the epoxy the next morning.
Make sure to read the instructions as to the correct temperature range for spreading the epoxy.
You'll be extremely happy with the finished product and I think you'll be about right on budget. The U Coat It system is hands down the best looking epoxy floor coating I have seen. I will be using it in my detatched garage.
I used the Rustoleum stuff from Home Depot almost 3 years ago on my main garage and it is holding up great, however it's not half as nice looking as U Coat It. Of course I coated a 24 X 30 garage for $200 including supplies. I was very particular about the preperation process and I believe that is why the cheap stuff is still sticking. Here's what I did:
Since this is a new house, DO NOT park your leaky car in the garage and stain the floor.
Buy a stiff bristled brush that you can mount to a handle, buy a handle mounted squeegie, a gallon of Muriatic acid, a big bag of Baking Soda, and a metal pail with a sprinkler spout like for watering plants.
Sweep the floor.
Hose the floor down good. Remove all loose debris.
Squeegie the floor to get it pretty dry.
Use a respirator if possible and pour the acid into the sprinkler pail.
Use the pail to spread the acid over the entire floor.
Spread it around with the brush.
Wait 10 minutes and rinse it down.
Spread baking soda over the floor to get the ph level back to normal.
Use the brush to spread it good.
Rinse the floor and squeegie to dry and repeat a second time to make sure you get the floor good and clean.
Let it dry overnight and start spreading the epoxy the next morning.
Make sure to read the instructions as to the correct temperature range for spreading the epoxy.
crownvic96
Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2005
I used the rustoleum kit from lowes. its working great. but there's one key to installing any brand of epoxy floor coating. PREPERATION, PREPERATION, PREPERATION oh and PREPERATION!.
if you have an older garage floor the citrus acid that comes in with the kit will not do the job. heres what i did:
swept entire garage out a couple times, used a small dust pan and broom to get along the trim and cracks along the sides.
pressure washed the floor twice
used some concrete stain remover to lift any of the larger oil and misc stain spots and i scraped off any paint splotches.
i then etched the floor twice with muriatic acid(you can get it from lowes, its only a couple bucks for a jug) and broom swept it and then pressure washed it clean.
more sweeping and pressure washing.
then i applied the citrus cleaner from the rustoleum kit. and applied the kit as directed. and made sure NOTHING of any weight was put in the garage for a week while the epoxy was curing. it worked great and i've had no problems in the 3-4 months i'ts been done.
i have a 10'x24' garage and i had about 16 hours of prep work on the floor. it was worth it though. i've read too many stories of people improperly prepping their concrete floors and the coatings just come right up.
if you're house is new you can probably get away with just using the citrus cleaner in the rustoleum kit. if the concrete floor is too smooth than maybe a light acid etching should be done to "rough" up the surface a bit to aid in the epoxy adhering.
also another option is to use some of that race deck or similar interlocking tiles. i think those things are sweet but they run like 3-5 bucks per 1'x1' tile so it was too pricy for me.
if you have an older garage floor the citrus acid that comes in with the kit will not do the job. heres what i did:
swept entire garage out a couple times, used a small dust pan and broom to get along the trim and cracks along the sides.
pressure washed the floor twice
used some concrete stain remover to lift any of the larger oil and misc stain spots and i scraped off any paint splotches.
i then etched the floor twice with muriatic acid(you can get it from lowes, its only a couple bucks for a jug) and broom swept it and then pressure washed it clean.
more sweeping and pressure washing.
then i applied the citrus cleaner from the rustoleum kit. and applied the kit as directed. and made sure NOTHING of any weight was put in the garage for a week while the epoxy was curing. it worked great and i've had no problems in the 3-4 months i'ts been done.
i have a 10'x24' garage and i had about 16 hours of prep work on the floor. it was worth it though. i've read too many stories of people improperly prepping their concrete floors and the coatings just come right up.
if you're house is new you can probably get away with just using the citrus cleaner in the rustoleum kit. if the concrete floor is too smooth than maybe a light acid etching should be done to "rough" up the surface a bit to aid in the epoxy adhering.
also another option is to use some of that race deck or similar interlocking tiles. i think those things are sweet but they run like 3-5 bucks per 1'x1' tile so it was too pricy for me.
JoeNational
Uh oh.. Look who got ALKY
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2003
Really good reading as I just purchased a house with a big garage (20.4 X 26) and am trying to figure which is the best bang for the buck. I priced out racedeck last year and it is waaaay to pricy for me as well. I have been looking at the Ucoat it system and seems to be the ticket but did not know that home depot and lowes sold similar cheaper products. Do you guys happen to have any more pictures of your garages.. Thanks
Didn't mean to hijack.
Didn't mean to hijack.
would that stuff you put on basement walls work? i cant think of what its called but its a sealer to keep water from seeping in. (i wanna say POR 15 but i'm not sure)
they have commercials for it every once in a great while.
mix in some stuff called "shark grit" for traction.
and your garage floor will have the traction of a skateboard deck.
could be a very cheap alternative.
they have commercials for it every once in a great while.
mix in some stuff called "shark grit" for traction.
and your garage floor will have the traction of a skateboard deck.
could be a very cheap alternative.
crownvic96
Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2005
the wall stuff won't work. it would come up from heat and/or pressure from tires. you'll need a 1 or 2 part epoxy based system to apply. and again PREP PREP PREP PREP PREP PREP PREP. i just can't stress that enough.
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